It is something I was thinking about the last posts...
If the GPS is the same as the one used in other DJI products, the main diffrence is that youhave much more room in an helico than in a multicopter..
then if there is a way to shield a little more the electronics against db, it is certainly the solution... I have an idea I would test and will give you the results...
cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joel Rosenzweig

In my Maxi Joker and my Air Crane (helicopters) using the Wookong-S, which uses the same GPS unit and IMU, my GPS aquisition time was anywhere from 2-4 minutes to achieve full lock (no flashes). In my case, the GPS was separated from the IMU by over 30cm. I know that most of us can't do that much separation in a multirotor unless we get creative such as mounting the IMU on a far leg and the GPS on another. I agree that even 4 minutes can seem like an eternity when you are ready to fly. If there was a way to speed it up, that would be fantastic.

I am using a DX8 with AR8000 and works fine for me .
Are there others having issues with the Dx8 ?

Geoff

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tahoe Ed

I was talking about the cables from the receiver to the FC. I will report that I could not get my AR8000 to work with this FC. I kept getting error code 8. I finally took it off an put my trusty AR6100 on. It is a few channels short of what I would like to have for the future but it will work for tuning and testing right now. What are others using for receivers?

I think people are having issues with the 64 bit incompatibility with the install driver they package with it. I initially could not get it to run because of this issue so I installed a virtual XP machine and it was fine at that point.

I am using my DX8 with the AR8000 receiver and TM1000 Telemetry Module and have had no problems, using the gear ch connected to "U" or modes (mixed with another 3 position switch so I can switch to all 4 modes), aux2 and aux 3 I have connected to "X2" and "X3" for in flight tuning, works very nice. And the TM1000 Telemetry Module tells me the ESC temps and battery voltage and sounds an alarm when I need to land.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tahoe Ed

I was talking about the cables from the receiver to the FC. I will report that I could not get my AR8000 to work with this FC. I kept getting error code 8. I finally took it off an put my trusty AR6100 on. It is a few channels short of what I would like to have for the future but it will work for tuning and testing right now. What are others using for receivers?

I think people are having issues with the 64 bit incompatibility with the install driver they package with it. I initially could not get it to run because of this issue so I installed a virtual XP machine and it was fine at that point.

doesn't that require Window 7 Pro? I only have home premium and can't use XP mode.

I put it all back together making sure the GPS was as far away from the rest of the electronics as I could get it both horizontally and vertically. Started the Assistant software and reconfigured the mounting to reflect the relocated GPS, strapped on a fresh battery and headed outside.

Placing the quad in the same spot I powered it up, noted the time and stood back, went to 2 flashes in just under a minute and down to 1 flash around the 2 minute mark. At that point I lifted off in ATTI mode and let it hover around 10 feet up for a bit, in a bit less than 3 minutes it was fully locked, the only flash from the LED was the ATTI mode indication.

Set it in GPS mode and found it to be a LOT more stable than it had been previously with full lock, no doubt due to lack of interference with the GPS now that it's moved. Anyone having issues with toilet bowling in GPS mode might want to check the spacing of the GPS antenna to the rest of the electronics, moving it back and up seems to have cured mine of it. It's blowing a bit of wind out back so it was a good test time, teh most it moved in GPS lock was maybe a meter in any one direction and as soon as the gust was over it would work its way back pretty close to where it started.

Took it up to about 50 feet where the wind was a bit stronger and it held as well, perhaps better, than my MKs. Brought it down to where it was about level with the top of the stockade fence and subject to buffeting and swirling gusts caught between the fence and the house, still held within 2 meters either way with no tendency to circle.

Next big test is to relocate the WKM back to the Y6 frame and try it out with the AV130 camera mount as soon as they release the updated firmware with the Y6 mixer. At least on that one I have enough real estate to get the GPS as far away from everything else as the cabling will allow.

It appears the source of the RFI is the IMU itself. Even though the GPS had 7 to 8 cm of distance to the IMU it was sitting directly overhead. I bolted the pedestal to the back of the centerplate using the longest shaft and put the GPS on top giving it 5cm of separation horizontally and an additional 4 to 5 cm vertically. Again powering the WKM with just an RX battery it went full lock in under a minute, so unless it caches the satellites it finds ala MK, it did indeed go cold start to lock in an acceptable amount of time and it appears the GPS needs to be as far away from the IMU as you can reasonably get it.

Now to put all the connections back and see if it can repeat that performance with everything powered up...

thatīs not good at all. I donīt understand that mast to install the gps, if I install my mkgps 12mm far from my other electronics and I have a solid lock less than 30 secs for sure. Iīm also using a 1.2ghz fpv receiver that Iīve seen that degrades the number of satelites to 1 less or so, even with it, really fast locking satelites.

I dont think Steve or any other potential customer need to prove anything to manufacturer (DJI in our case), hehe)
most likely DJI has to prove their product is good and doesnt need any improves to gps, for example.
the fact they dont know what is ground plane (not PLATE, no) doesnt work for them.

I should note that Matts video is actually better than I thought. jitter is more like the vibration from the motors/props than from servo, but it looks not bad at the moment..

I was just poking around in the setup screens doing a switch mix for failsafe mode and I discovered it has throttle hold for airplane mode! Don't have to worry about WKM spooling up props when I don't want them to now, doesn't negate the need for arm/disarm but at least its one less thing I have to worry about.

Next up I'm going to go for it and test RTH with autoland while everything is still setup on a frame I don't mind damaging if it all goes horribly wrong...

I was a bit scared to turn off my transmitter so I set up RTH on a switch and tested the feature. Works as advertised! The GPS was about 15 feet off, so make sure you launch from an area free of objects (like cars, water, etc...)

I was just poking around in the setup screens doing a switch mix for failsafe mode and I discovered it has throttle hold for airplane mode! Don't have to worry about WKM spooling up props when I don't want them to now, doesn't negate the need for arm/disarm but at least its one less thing I have to worry about.

Next up I'm going to go for it and test RTH with autoland while everything is still setup on a frame I don't mind damaging if it all goes horribly wrong...

When I was still using my DX7 I needed all 7 channels for my MK hexa and single servo swash still mixes throttle with the pitch channel, so if you need control over all seven the easiest thing to do is use acro mode.